Klaus Shulze, yes. A tendency of mine is to visualize words. I first heard of Shulze as a teenager or so on The Hearts of Space, and I didn't know shit about German. (I know a liittle more, now.) I still remember it in my mind's eye: Clause....
Brian Eno formally studied music, and he's capable. He's second-generation Minimalist (Glass, Reich, and Terry Riley being the first - each of them becoming more mature into the 90s, Riley perhaps earliest and most so.....). But ambient goes back to Mozart, even Bach (especially in cases of Glenn Gould playing his stuff). Its 'modern' version is pretty definitively Debussey....for example, La Mer, and later La Catheral Engloutie. (That's at least fifty years before Shostakovitch, Numanoid. That's a nice piece, though. Shostakovitch was a great composer...even if a bit retro for his time.)deastman wrote:I have to admit that I find a lot of ambient music pretty boring. A droning ambience that goes on for ten minutes with only the occasional gradual timbral variation over the course of a minute. I guess this is the Brian Eno philosophy of background music which creates a mood. Personally, I think there is a lot of room to explore more structured pieces with recurring motifs, even without a rhythmic element. I'm sure there are plenty of artists who have done that sort of thing, but if anyone can point me to some specific examples, I'd love to hear them.
Then there was Satie in that company (Ravel rounding out the trio), especially trance-repetition-wise. So fast-forward a bit through Schoenberg, on to the Americans of the 50s, and you have Morton Feldman. Shifting, repeating elements. And that's where Roach comes in. But not in every piece, and certainly not in the same way - because it's orchestrated. As a trained composer would.
And that is a defining factor of music, whyterabbyt. Ain't got nothin ta do with what I like. I know compositional techniques and class. I don't love Wagner. But those who say it ain't remotely f**king fantastic are naive at best.
That is, zerocrossing, there's progression [in Roach]. Form is open, but there are always [boundary] conditions, type and degree laying the foundation for quality.
Serrie ain't all that. He has some decent orchestration, and fairly succeeds at points...and then he gets almost new-agey goofy at times. Roach don't never do that in his ambient pieces. Harmonic content don't lie.
@Codestation: Funny. I get it....but I don't dig it. I'm not a tinkerer.
@Bobbotov: I've listened to select Steve Roach electro-ambient most days, all day for the last thirteen years. It's space. Inverted sound sculpture. It never demands, and always aids.
@Aryaorman: the Shulze isn't ambient. It's almost there, but there's no 'space' portrayed - the speed and type of the repeating figures are a factor in this. Also, it's tonal. True electro-ambient is VERY chromatic at the least. Now the Radiation Storm is there. Roach has a similar piece, though larger space, larger and more distant objects.
The Risky Business is trance. Grew up with it, love it, but it ain't quite ambient.
Just like how trained performers learn to play slowly to develop their physical ability, but particularly mentally a sense of temp. Temporal transposition.ariston wrote:Listening to and writing/performing ambient is a form of meditation to me. It really teaches you HOW to listen. Do it often and you'll begin to appreciate the little details while still being able to experience the whole.
Certainly there's a point where something is too fast. But (arguably) not too slow. You have to feel the space. This is life, and arguably very few are emotionally autonomous to listen so fluidly. Those not formally trained especially.
Outside of driving, where it's typically been loud and proud metal/rock/pop/80s country, I've rarely done things with music on. Lately not even driving. Never in physical training; I'm paying attention to breath and my body. Roach electro-ambient is the exception, for the reasons I've stated above. I've had it on when having female company, and they've always remarked about it, that they essentially fall into it.
((edited for greater clarity))
